1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a television telephone apparatus attained under a software on a personal computer and an information processing method in the television telephone apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram showing an example of a conventional television telephone apparatus. This television telephone apparatus is provided with a video I/O device 101, a video encoder 102, an audio I/O device 103, an audio encoder 104, a reception path delay device 105, a multiplex separator 106, a modem 107, a modem controller 108 and a system controller 109.
The video encoder 102 performs an image compression process on an image signal outputted by the video I/O device 101. The audio encoder 104 performs a voice compression process on a voice signal outputted by the audio I/O device 103. The multiplex separator 106 performs a multiplexing process on a compressed image data outputted by the video encoder 102 and a compressed voice data outputted by the audio encoder 104. The modem 107 sends the multiplexed data outputted by the multiplex separator 106 to a terminal device of the other partner. Also, the modem 107 sends the multiplexed data received from the terminal device of the other partner to the multiplex separator 106. The multiplex separator 106 separates the compressed voice data and the compressed image data outputted by the modem 107 from each other. After the video encoder 102 performs an extension process on the compressed image data at the terminal device of the other partner, it is displayed by the video I/O device 101. Simultaneously with this display, after the audio encoder 104 performs an extension process on the compressed voice data at the terminal device of the other partner, it is reproduced by the audio I/O device 103.
The above-mentioned television telephone apparatus does not carry out an operational control in accordance with a process amount (load) of information. This increases the process amount of information when another application different from a television telephone application is operated at the same time. This drops the operability of the television telephone apparatus. For example, there may be a case that the process amount (load) of information exceeds that of a CPU, if another application such as a word processor, a spreadsheet or the like is actuated during the operation of the television telephone application. When a load which exceeds the processing ability of the CPU is occurred, the process of each application is not smoothly executed. The situation that the process is not smoothly executed implies, for example, the slower response of the application. The slower response of the application disables the operation to be smoothly executed.
A compression technique of the television telephone application is described in Japanese Patent Laid-open JP-A-H04-78288, JP-A-H09-116885 and JP-A-H11-41574.
It is an object of the present invention is to provide a television telephone apparatus in which an operability of an application is not degraded even if another application different from a television telephone application is operated at the same time, and an information processing method in the television telephone apparatus.
In order to achieve an aspect of the present invention, a television telephone apparatus includes a data compressor which is an image compressor or a voice compressor, an inputting unit and a load amount controller. The inputting unit generates a process amount reduction instruction for the image compressor or the voice compressor. The load amount controller controls a compression process amount of the image compressor or the voice compressor based on the load amount in response to the process amount reduction instruction such that the compression process amount is reduced.
In the above television telephone apparatus, the process amount reduction instruction for the compression process and a process of an application software exceeds a predetermined threshold level is extended by an application software.
In the above television telephone apparatus, the compression process amount is reduced such that a load amount is set to be lower than the threshold level.
In the above television telephone apparatus, the compression process amount is reduced by a reduction of a frame rate of the image compressor or the voice compressor.
In the above television telephone apparatus, the compression process amount is reduced by a reduction of a resolution of the image compressor or the voice compressor.
In order to achieve an aspect of the present invention, another television telephone apparatus includes an image compressor, a voice compressor, an inputting unit and a load amount controller. The inputting unit generates a process amount reduction instruction for reducing a compression process amount of the image compressor and the voice compressor. The load amount controller detects a load amount of the television telephone apparatus and controls a compression process amount of the image compressor and the voice compressor such that the compression process amount is reduced.
In the above another television telephone apparatus, the process amount reduction instruction is generated when the load amount for the compression process and a process of an application software exceeds a predetermined threshold level.
In the above another television telephone apparatus, the compression process amount is reduced such that the load amount is set to be lower than the threshold value.
In the above another television telephone apparatus, the compression process amount is reduced by a reduction of a frame rate of the image compressor and the voice compressor.
In the above another television telephone apparatus, the compression process amount is reduced by a reduction of a resolution of the image compressor and the voice compressor. In order to achieve an aspect of the present invention, in a method of reduction of the compression process amount of the television telephone apparatus, a load amount of the television telephone apparatus is detected by a load amount controller. Furthermore, a process amount reduction instruction which shows an compression amount reducing instruction of the image compressor or the voice compressor is generated by an inputting unit when the load amount is extended to a predetermined threshold level. Furthermore, a compression process amount of the image compressor or the voice compressor is controlled by a load amount controller such that the compression process amount is reduced.
In the above method of reduction of the compression process amount of the television telephone apparatus, the compression process amount is reduced such that a load by the image compressor or the voice compressor and the application software is set to a lower value of the threshold value.
In the above method of reduction of the compression process amount of the television telephone apparatus, the compression process amount is reduced by a reduction of a frame rate of the image compressor or the voice compressor. In the above method of reduction of the compression process amount of the television telephone apparatus, the compression process amount is reduced by a reduction of a resolution of the image compressor or the voice compressor.